Cancer Research Career Enhancement and Related Activities ? Project Summary/Abstract Providing educational and career enhancement opportunities to Cancer Center doctoral and postdoctoral trainees is central to the goal of supporting the next generation of cancer researchers while also maintaining the highest research standards of the Salk Institute. The Salk Cancer Center Director, in conjunction with the associate directors, has developed programs focusing on critical areas of the trainee's exposure to the cancer research environment. These programs include a semester-long UCSD-accredited cancer course, targeted training in emerging technologies, seminars and symposia held on campus, a grant writing tutorial series, the Mechanisms and Models of Cancer meeting (shared with Cold Spring Harbor), as well as leveraging the close proximity of the Institute to two other NCI Cancer Centers to provide trainees with a clinical perspective on cancer research through participation in cancer rounds at Moores Cancer Center at UCSD. The Salk Cancer Center also contributes to community education and engagement with programs that extend from elementary school all the way through mentoring cancer research investigators as they develop their own projects and laboratories. Through strong institutional support for Cancer Center research and innovative programs to develop and provide funding to the next generation of cancer research faculty and trainees, the Salk Cancer Center provides a vital and dynamic career development environment.